Linchi Kwok, Ph.D.

Having spent the last decade growing and working at my family’s bakeries, I have become all too accustomed to the best and worst aspects of the industry. I went from an 8-year-old employee sampling our fresh bread to draw in customers to the Front of House Manager who trains new staff, handles customer complaints, and keeps day-to-day operations running as smoothly as possible. While the bakery feels like home, it has also taught me that small hospitality businesses often underestimate one of the most critical functions of the workplace: human resources. Unlike large, structured hotels, small businesses treat HR as an afterthought until a problem forces change. Over the years, I’ve noticed three major mistakes in HR that hurt employee morale, retention, and performance- and I want to share what steps we took to fix them. Mistake #1: No Real Onboarding Training is a big part of employee success, and small businesses often treat it as a one-time event that is easily forgotten. New hires...

Restaurant curbside pickup evolved from the old-fashioned takeout service and has gained momentum since COVID. Restaurateurs embrace the concept, and consumers want it. Curbside pickup will remain an essential restaurant distribution method even after the pandemic. Do off-premises restaurant services add a burden to the environment? The surge of restaurant off-premises services (curbside pickup, takeout, or delivery) could harm the environment because many retailers use food containers and packages made of plastic for one-time usage. Research shows that our world populations produce 130 million tons of single-use plastic a year (including more than food packages here), but in the U.S., only 8% of all plastic products get recycled. Some restaurants have begun using more sustainable materials in food packaging (e.g., disposable containers). Their efforts deserve a round of applause! Nevertheless, it is unclear if their good deeds can also bring them monetary rewards. For example, can gr...

Growing up in a household of first-generation immigrants, my parents had seldomly followed American societal norms. They run a small shop in the heart of Little Saigon in Westminster, CA, selling phone cards, lottery tickets, and water, with a laundromat running in the back. Given that they are a business of 10 employees, my father had never felt the need to hire a Human Resource (HR) Specialist to produce a standardized process of maintaining employee-employer relations. When issues come up, he, as the owner, would need to handle them – from staffing schedules, recruitment processes, as well as disciplinary action. While large corporations have created a system to tackle such issues, most small businesses do not have access to the same resources to resolve similar problems. What issues may arise for mom-and-pop shops without an HR department? Corporations with many employees require structures and processes to maximize their efficiency with conflict resolution and risk management. T...

Did you wake up one morning and decide that you needed to take control of your life?  Has the thought of starting a business ever crossed your mind?  Are you already a business owner or looking to be one?  These are all valid questions to be considered for people interested in entrepreneurship. The pandemic is very challenging for most businesses, but it also opens up new opportunities for smaller, house-based operations. In fact, a number of small, family-owned businesses have done relatively well during this time. So, I guess the real question is how exactly they managed to bring in new business and at the same time, keep their existing customers. SEO, or search engine optimization, can be one solution to these questions. With everything being online nowadays, it is really up to the algorithm to decide.  What is SEO? SEO’s act as website filters that can help control traffic, all while promoting certain websites and brands through the natural engine. SEO’s suc...

Home-sharing and extended stay hotels are doing well even during the pandemic. Even big hotel chains, such as Marriott , Hyatt, and Wyndham , also got into the home-sharing market.  As the travel and hospitality industry is ready for a long-waited recovery beginning in 2021 , Expedia, the parent company of Vrbo, is fighting with Airbnb for supply. Expedia's strategy is to deploy a team to poach Airbnb's superhosts .      Now that every key player in the home-sharing market is fighting for high-quality home-sharing facilities, what do you expect from the competition among hotels, OTAs, and Airbnb ? Also, will such a fight for supply affect the real estate market as more investors might purchase homes for short-term residential rentals?  

Places are easing coronavirus restrictions . Travel companies are reopening their business with enhanced sanitizing measures . People are ready to travel again.   Do you see early signs of recovery? Here are some positive updates, although it is still too early to claim it is business as usual.   TSA   The  Transportation Security Administration  (TSA) reported that 430,414 people passed the security checkpoints at airports on Monday, June 8. That was about  five times  the record low traffic day of 87,543 in April and accounted for 16.27% of the air traffic in the same weekday one year ago at 2,644,981. It is worthy to point out that the figure reported in 2019 showed an  84% increase  from 2018, which recorded at 1.4 million only.   The traffic reported by TSA continued to climb to 502,209 on Thursday, June 11, the first time when the number passed half a million since the pandemic. Thursday’s traffic was at 18.77% of the 2019 level ...

Ten Ren’s Tea was founded in 1953 and now operates one hundred retail stores globally, providing the finest teas to their loyal customers worldwide. Ten Ren’s combines modern technology and traditional methods when processing tea leaves to provide customers with the highest quality tea that aids in improving the quality of life and health for their customers. Ten Ren’s Tea Time, the restaurant, has a total of nine locations in the Southern California area. New Image: Ten Ren’s Tea Time recently changed its logo, as shown below. We can say that the marketing team wanted a change of the company’s logo to regain customer’s attention and regain their sales.  Just like they changed their logo, they also updated the website to fit the new theme. Their website appears more modernized than their previous design s, which can attract potential customers and returning customers. The company wanted to show its target market that they know ...

Walgreens is now working with Alphabet’s Wing to test drone delivery service . Beginning in October, Walgreens’ pilot program will use drones to deliver on-demand food, beverage, and over-the-counter non-prescription medications to customers within minutes. Currently, Wing’s drones can deliver packages of about three (3) pounds and within a six-mile (6-mile) radius .    Competing in drone delivery Walgreens is not the only retailer who wants to use drones in delivery. Major retailers and courier companies have also responded to consumer demands for faster and more convenient delivery. Amazon, for example, announced in June that the company planned to roll out free one-day drone delivery to its Prime members in North America. Amazon’s delivery drones can carry a package that weighs five (5) pounds or less and fly up to 15 minutes. Using drone delivery, Amazon Prime members can receive their orders within 30 minutes aft...